We have been trained not to think about our health care until there's a problem.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
People don't like it, but inevitably we need to think about both the costs and the benefits of health care. We cannot avoid the financial consequences.
That's one of the ironies of our time: Right when we're on the edge of serious improvements in health care, we're also cooking the planet.
We only think when we are confronted with problems.
We are going to see a tremendous number of health professionals retire over the next 8-10 years. We are not doing nearly enough to deal with this problem.
We are thinking ahead to long-term care, aware that many folks don't plan ahead and won't be ready. We want to see to it that people will have choices.
We are spending most of our time in American health care fixing the mistakes that either we in the profession are causing or our patients are, without recognizing it, causing to themselves.
The best way not to encounter America's health care system is not to have to encounter it.
We can have the best health insurance options in the world, and people still won't get needed care if we don't increase our supply of primary care physicians and nurses.
Yet it looks as if the thing we use to solve our problems with is the source of our problems. It's like going to the doctor and having him make you ill. In fact, in 20% of medical cases we do apparently have that going on. But in the case of thought, its far over 20%.
We have one of the few societies, the only one I can think of right offhand, where your health care is so tied to your job, so that when an American company has to hire, they have to think about health care.